Three documents, three genuinely different jobs
| Document | What it actually covers | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Will | Who inherits what after you die | Only after death |
| AMD | Refusing extraordinary life-sustaining treatment if terminally ill and unconscious | One specific medical scenario, while alive |
| LPA | Who makes personal welfare and/or financial decisions for you | Any time you lose mental capacity, while alive |
This is the single most useful thing to understand up front: a will only ever matters after you've died. An AMD and an LPA only ever matter while you're alive but unable to make decisions yourself. People often assume a will covers everything, it doesn't, and families are frequently surprised mid-crisis to discover nothing was in place for the very common situation of someone being alive but incapacitated.
Advance Medical Directive (AMD) — the narrow, specific one
An AMD is deliberately narrow. It applies to exactly one scenario: you are terminally ill and unconscious, and doctors are deciding whether to use extraordinary treatment (like a ventilator) purely to prolong the dying process, not to cure anything. Signing an AMD tells your doctor in advance that you don't want that. You'll still receive palliative care and pain relief regardless, an AMD never means being denied comfort or basic care.
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Who can make one | Age 21+, of sound mind — entirely voluntary, coercing someone is a criminal offence |
| The form | Form 1, from MOH, polyclinics, or participating clinics — printed on both sides of a single sheet |
| Witnesses | Your doctor, plus one other adult who isn't an immediate family member, beneficiary, or has any interest in your estate |
| Where it's registered | Registrar of Advance Medical Directives, Ministry of Health, College of Medicine Building, 16 College Road |
| Cost | The form itself is free; a clinic consultation fee typically applies for the doctor's time and witnessing |
Once registered, MOH sends you a written acknowledgement, keep this. You can revoke an AMD at any time, in the presence of at least one witness, as long as you're of sound mind, using AMD Form 3 or writing directly to the Registrar.
Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) — the broader, more useful one for most families
An LPA is genuinely broader and, for most families, the more practically useful of the two. It lets you (the donor) appoint one or more people aged 21+ (donees) to make decisions on your behalf, personal welfare (healthcare, living arrangements, daily life decisions), property and financial affairs, or both, the moment you lose mental capacity, from any cause: dementia, stroke, an accident, anything. Unlike the AMD's single scenario, an LPA covers the whole practical reality of someone needing to act for you while you're alive but unable to decide things yourself.
| LPA Form 1 | LPA Form 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| What it covers | Standard powers, with basic built-in restrictions — sufficient for most people | Fully customised powers, drafted with a lawyer |
| OPG registration fee (Singapore Citizens) | Free, as of 1 April 2026 | S$185 |
| OPG registration fee (PRs) | S$90 | S$230 |
| OPG registration fee (Foreigners) | S$230 | S$275 |
| Certificate Issuer fee (separate, paid to the certifying doctor or lawyer) | Typically ~S$25 for an accredited GP, more for a lawyer | S$200–S$500+, lawyer-drafted |
⚠️ Important
The OPG registration fee is separate from the Certificate Issuer's professional fee. Someone qualified, a practising lawyer, psychiatrist, or accredited doctor, must witness and certify that you understand what you're signing and aren't under pressure. Budget for both fees, not just the one on the OPG fee table.
The real cost of not having one — Deputyship
This is the number that actually makes the decision for most families, once they hear it. If someone loses mental capacity with no LPA in place, the family has no automatic right to manage their affairs. The only route is applying to the Family Justice Courts for a Deputyship Order, and that process typically costs S$5,000 to S$15,000 in legal and court fees, and takes 6 to 12 months to resolve, all while bills, medical decisions, and daily needs still have to be managed somehow in the meantime.
An LPA, arranged in advance while someone still has full capacity, sidesteps all of that entirely, for what is now, for most Singapore Citizens, a free government registration plus a modest one-off professional fee.
Doing this alongside funeral and estate planning
AMD and LPA sit naturally alongside the other planning-ahead documents already covered here, a will, CPF nomination, and pre-planning a funeral itself. None of them replace each other, and doing one doesn't cover the gap left by skipping another. If you're already having the harder conversations about a will or funeral pre-planning with an aging parent, this is a natural, practical extension of that same conversation, not a separate, harder one. See CPF Nomination Singapore and Funeral Pre-Planning Singapore for the adjacent pieces.
💡 Tip
Not sure where to even start this conversation with a parent or spouse? I'm happy to walk you through how these pieces fit together, alongside funeral planning, in one conversation rather than several separate ones. WhatsApp +65 8958 9787.
